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nity in the case of libels, to limit the power of juries. Whether you have constantly attempted to conquer them by your eloquence, or command them by your austere mandatory opinions; acting more often as a Counsellor than as a Judge, Jurors, my Lord, being but plain men, need only to be directed, not to be driven, or bewildered in the labyrinth of law. They have generally a just sense of right and wrong; and the function of Judge was instituted to be their guide, not their governor. Your Lordship's office is somewhat similar to a Judge Advocate in military trials, and, like him, you ought to pay a proper respect to your jurors. For you are no more in fact, than a chief and perpetual president of every jury, always keeping strictly to the spirit where you cannot to the letter of the law, which it is your duty to explain. The Judge only should declare, and the jurors decide.
As the slavish doctrine, that jurors are only judges of the fact, is big with the utmost danger to the freedom of the whole
